La Semaine du Goût 2008

This week until Oct. 19 is a national event in France -- La Semaine du Goût (or Tasting Week). Started 18 years ago, it is a week-long effort to help school children cultivate their taste buds by educating them about food. Right now all over the country, an army of professional chefs has been dispatched to classrooms to conduct hands-on workshops on this year's theme -- the construction of taste through the process of learning how to cook. And for the adults?

A few hundred restaurants around France, from simple bistros to temples of haute cuisine, are offering specially priced and designed tasting menus. Consult the website for a full list of participating restaurants. And you can also find dessert recipes (in French) from participating chefs here.